When Bad Things Happen To Good People
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Intro: I believe it was back in 2006, I was at the Cove in Asheville, NC and Pastor Erwin Lutzer spoke about “Why Bad Things Happen to Good People.” He was not trying to tell us that Katrina happened because God was punishing the people of New Orleans for the sins of Bourbon Street, but neither was he ruling it out. He simply taught that God is sovereign and that He has a purpose for everything that happens.
Tonight I want to talk with about “When Bad Things Happen To Good People”
When- adverb meaning “at certain times”
I use the word “when” because all that we will look at tonight has happened in the past to Israel to remind them of their disobedience in sin and God’s warning to get them to repent, unfortunately to no avail. Now they will prepare to meet their God.
Text: Amos 4:6-13
6 “Also I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities. And lack of bread in all your places; Yet you have not returned to Me,” Says the Lord.
7 “I also withheld rain from you, When there were still three months to the harvest. I made it rain on one city, I withheld rain from another city. One part was rained upon, And where it did not rain the part withered.
8 So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water, But they were not satisfied; Yet you have not returned to Me,” Says the Lord.
9 “I blasted you with blight and mildew. When your gardens increased, Your vineyards, Your fig trees, And your olive trees, The locust devoured them; Yet you have not returned to Me,” Says the Lord.
10 “I sent among you a plague after the manner of Egypt; Your young men I killed with a sword, Along with your captive horses; I made the stench of your camps come up into your nostrils; Yet you have not returned to Me,” Says the Lord.
11 “I overthrew some of you, As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, And you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning; Yet you have not returned to Me,” Says the Lord.
12 “Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”
13 For behold, He who forms mountains, And creates the wind, Who declares to man what his thought is, And makes the morning darkness, Who treads the high places of the earth— The Lord God of hosts is His name.
Amos gives a history lesson of God’s dealings with Israel in the past. He reminds them of sporadic hardships they brought upon themselves for breaking their covenant with God.
1. Famine; 6
1. Famine; 6
Cleanness of teeth is not because they went and saw Karen at the dentist. It was because they had no food to eat! There was empty stomachs because of lack of bread.
17 “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
48 therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you.
They did not repent!
2. Drought; 7-8
2. Drought; 7-8
Drought affects crops and drinking water which affects the people and the economy.
The most important time for water on crops is just a few months out from harvest. If you don’t get the rain then, there will be no fruit on the vine which will decimate the economy and create or prolong a famine.
23 And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron.
24 The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
[8] People had to travel distances to other towns to get drinking water to survive. One of God’s purposes of doing this was to make man think of why some were getting rain and they weren’t. They should have turned back to God, but they didn’t.
God is the one who controls the rain, not the weatherman! God decides where the rain will fall and when. [Job 38:25-30]
They did not repent!
3. Blight, Mildew and Locusts; 9
3. Blight, Mildew and Locusts; 9
God struck the vegetables, vineyards, fig and olive trees with scorching winds from the desert. Parasitic worms brought mildew on the crops and locusts devoured the leaves of fig and olive trees.
This was a major setback to the national economy and the families of Israel.
18 “Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
22 The Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.
38 “You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for the locust shall consume it.
42 Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land.
Again the did not repent!
4. Plagues and Military defeat; 10
4. Plagues and Military defeat; 10
The LORD sent sickness and plagues among the people, the same kind of plagues that struck Egypt. What God had delivered them from they invited into their lives.
The LORD sent war and military defeat and the slaughter of the nation’s young men
Plagues and war often go hand in hand. The destruction of war brings about a lack of necessities, disease and death. Diseases bring about plagues that can decimate a society more-so than the destruction caused by war.
21 The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess.
22 The Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.
27 The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed.
25 “The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth.
26 Your carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away.
Yet, no repentance!
5. Devastation; 11
5. Devastation; 11
Sodom and Gomorrah was totally devastated by fire and brimstone from heaven. The Lord sent various catastrophes on the homes and cities of Israel throughout their history, even where the enemy burned them out.
23 ‘The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’
24 All nations would say, ‘Why has the Lord done so to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?’
25 Then people would say: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt;
26 for they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they did not know and that He had not given to them.
27 Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against this land, to bring on it every curse that is written in this book.
28 And the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’
Israel, like Lot and his family, was like a brand snatched from the fire, fortunate to be alive. You would think their narrow escape would turn them back to God. But not this stiffed neck people.
Yet you have not returned to me!
6. Prepare to Meet Your God; 12-13
6. Prepare to Meet Your God; 12-13
Amos tells Israel to prepare for a confrontation with their God. Even though Israel has sinned against God and worshiped other gods, He is still their God because He chose them out to be a treasured people among all the nations of the earth. He is their God because of His covenant He made with Abraham.
[Ex. 19:10-19, 20:18-20] God first met with Israel out of His love and gave them the way to have an intimate relationship with Him. And they were afraid that they would die!
Now Amos tells them to prepare for God’s wrath for they broke His covenant and they are accountable to Him!
[13] The God who created all things, who knows every thought and intent of man’s heart, who turns day to night and night to day, who owns all that man sees, is coming down from heaven to pay you a visit. This visit will not be a pleasant one, but God will be treading grapes in the winepress of His wrath.
3 For behold, the Lord is coming out of His place; He will come down And tread on the high places of the earth.
2 Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress?
3 “I have trodden the winepress alone, And from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger, And trampled them in My fury; Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, And I have stained all My robes.
Close;
When bad things happen to good people, it may be God trying to get their/our attention, to turn from their/our sin and seek Him. Israel was a good people. Actually Israel was God’s people and yet He judged them.
13 But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.
14 Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.”
15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,
16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
So when bad things happen to you, the question that needs to be asked is, “What does God want me to see as a result of this calamity?”
“Do I need to repent of sin, or does God just want to draw me closer?”